Romania 🇷🇴

Teodora, 26

Born in Zărnești, Romania

Came to Australia in September 2018

What is your occupation?

I am a Project Manager at Amazon Web Services so I work with Australia’s largest clients in terms of account operations. I studied Computer Science at the University of Bucharest, one of the best universities in Romania.

Why did you come to Australia?

My boyfriend, a Chinese-Australian, and I met when he was travelling in Bucharest, Romania. We travelled together around Europe for 2 years while he was in London on a working holiday visa.

When his visa ended, we travelled around Asia for a month and then he asked me to move to Australia with him.

What do you like about Sydney?

One thing that I’ve noticed is the incredible and diverse food culture. For example, Hurstville has the best yum cha and we would drive to Bankstown for pho. After visiting Vietnam, I cannot get enough and I’m always scouting for the best pho in the city.

Back home in Romania, we don’t have proper Asian food. We only have “fast-food” Asian cuisine but it’s not authentic at all. I grew up eating only Romanian food; the only foreign cuisines would be Italian or Spanish.

What don’t you like about Sydney?

Travelling in Australia is very expensive. It is a very beautiful destination- don’t get me wrong- but I feel like it’s more of a retiree’s destination. You need a lot more time and money to properly explore the country. It’s also inconveniently situated, in terms of overseas travel. Back in Europe, I could do a weekend trip to Italy or another country, whereas that’s impossible here. While I enjoy the aforementioned multicultural aspects of Sydney, I feel like Sydney hasn’t fully integrated all these different cultures.

For example, people love Chinese food in Sydney but once COVID hit, Sydneysiders turned their back on the Chinese diaspora and some people showed their true, racist colours. It’s like you love their food but you don’t like the people. People are superficially enjoying each other’s great cuisines while not bothering to truly understand or learn about each other.

What would you like to say to Sydneysiders?

Stop judging people and don’t believe all those misconceptions that you hear about. They may have been true a long time ago but not anymore. Be more open-minded about other cultures, in the authentic sense, and not just their cuisine.

Do your own research. Have your own opinion based on facts and don’t just be a sheep.

What languages do you speak?

English, Romanian

I studied French for 8 years but I can’t say I really know it. I’m probably better in Spanish, I know bits of Spanish from watching all those telenovelas.

Teach us one word/phrase from your native language.

Dor

This word doesn’t have an equivalent in English but I’ll give it my best shot.

It expresses a feeling of missing something or longing. For example, “Mi-e dor de tine” means I miss you but in a very deep and profound way.

As you can see, there are even articles written about it.

https://kingofromania.com/2019/01/05/romanians-special-word-dor/

What is one thing you want us to know about your native country?

I feel like Romania is almost a “hidden” country in that not many people know anything about it. It’s definitely worth visiting though because there’s a lot of nature, medieval castles, citadels. It’s not touristy as well so you get the whole place to yourself!

The food is delicious. It’s a blend of Eastern European, Greek, Turkish food. It’s the best and I miss it so much.

Who is the most famous person in your native country?

Dracula.

It has to be him. He’s not a real Romanian but he was created by Irish author Bram Stoker, who was inspired by Transylvanian history and Vlad the Impaler. Vlad was indeed real and he was impaling his enemies to defend Romania.

For other real Romanians, Nadia Comăneci is incredibly famous. She was 14 when she became the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 in the Olympics. She’s a five-time Olympic gold medallist.

What is the best dish in your native country?

It’s really difficult but I’ll pick these two dishes.

One is slănină which is smoked pork fat. This is my favourite and I eat it for my midnight snack. I know that sounds strange.

The other one is sarmal, which are cabbage rolls. They are quite common in Eastern Europe but the Romanian ones use sour pickled cabbage. We also add minced meat (pork, beef) and rice, and then we add slănină in the pot while we cook them.

Disclaimer: All posts are personal opinions and perspectives of the interviewees and are not a perfect representation of the whole country/experience.